It would be best to UV map the entire model. Although you are not using texture maps on all surfaces, someone might want to apply one in the future for bump or reflection. I do not believe that chrome does a good reflection using only texture coordinates as opposed to UV.

I do not know what kind of grouping Blender uses, but DS and Poser can use the same type of grouping for rigging. I assume you will want to rig the model so the wheels will rotate and the fork steerable. Also, I assume the model is still incomplete because I see no connection between hub and rim on wheels.

Areas that could require bump/displacement or other kinds of maps absolutely must be UV mapped. Areas like chrome don’t have to be, but since most metal materials in the DS/Poser world use reflection maps, they should be, too. In short, unless you are providing your own shaders (not presets) then yeah, map it all.

Medzin - 22 October 2012 04:18 PM

It would be best to UV map the entire model. Although you are not using texture maps on all surfaces, someone might want to apply one in the future for bump or reflection. I do not believe that chrome does a good reflection using only texture coordinates as opposed to UV.

I do not know what kind of grouping Blender uses, but DS and Poser can use the same type of grouping for rigging. I assume you will want to rig the model so the wheels will rotate and the fork steerable. Also, I assume the model is still incomplete because I see no connection between hub and rim on wheels.

If you have texture maps used in any part of the model then that part should be UV mapped, whether you use a standard mapping, like Box, cylindrical, spherical,.. etc, or use UV Unwrapping is your choice, but most Figures and clothing use Unwrapping to create the UV layout’s, (which are available for most products) so that the users, or other published artists can also create “alternative” texture maps.

For the parts which use shaders,. then these should also have some type of UV Mapping applied, to enable texture based shaders to be used.

Basically all models you create in any 3D program should (By default) have some standard type of UV mapping which is automatically applied to them,.. when you create them.

If you later want to alter that default UV mapping, or change it to UV Unwrapping,.. that would depend on the shape of the model and how you want to texture it.

Depending on how the model is made, and what you think should be changeable (tank colour and details) ( seat colour and details) then these areas should be UV mapped, and Unwrapped and they should be separate parts, and use different shading domains, so that they can be textured differently or Hidden,. using alternative maps or shader options.

You’ll also want to add some Spokes to those wheels for a much smoother ride

As far as I am aware, officially at least OBJ does not support partial mapping so if you are going to export to OBJ you need some kind of uv mapping for the whole thing - though depending on intent you may not need good uv mapping everywhere.

It’s possible to create a single obj which is made of multiple poly-meshes, and has multiple shading domains, each shading domain can have a different UV mapping type, or unwrapping
for example,. Most figure’s have eyes which are UV mapped but are separate from the head mapping, but still part of the same figure OBJ

I’d also add that, depending on how Colpolstudios want the model to function in DS or Poser,. it would be best to export the model in parts, for example, the Wheels, so that they can be rotated separately, and perhaps the front forks, for the same reason.
then I think you’d need to create a figure, or possibly just parent the parts together.